Support for shoes mounted upon lasts



Oct. 14, 1952' F. SBICCA SUPPORT FOR SHOES MOUNTED UPON LASTS Filed June10, 1946 Patented Oct. 14, 1952 UNITED sirr ES a .3

SUPEOKT FOR snons MOUNTED Yr 'lass'rs-cv 1 a handled and rehanolled,vare=laidasidewhileother units are worked upon, and are oftenimovedfrom'.one location to another. FOI 'bhi-Si purpose mov-' able racks areprovidedv upon; which the; units.- comprising a ShOBIandqalastgarewindividually supported and by which they: may:betransported from place to place in --the l factoryaas; desired.

Such racks may be arranged; so aslto-support the;

shoes in a sing1e row orin ,a;seriesofvertically spaced rowsa Regardlessof;- the particular;

arrangement,, however., it is; essential that the worker beable to;position; the, shoes-readily? in". the rack and also be able:to:removez-themswith: the same ease-therefrom;

These racks; are used". andpreusedizand .withz-the: passage of time andmuch handling frequently become soiled with foreign material and if theshoes which are.carriedhtherebycome into contact with thesoiledsurfaces;ithey-teosare ldirtied.

Many shoes being light colored soihfmarksg;

thereon are clearly visible and tomemove such marks requiresa cleaningoperation" which might otherwise be unnecessarycantii the inclusionmfiwhich results unnecessary? manufacturing expense.

According to thepresent invention a sl'i'oejrack support is providedwhich? is =:so constructedffand arranged as to hold the "shoe-and itslast 'in a manner that the surface-0f theishoe is entirely spaced fromall adjacent surfaces. The: last alone makes contact-with the supportorca-rrier when used with all standard shoe designs and the constructionis further characterized by the ease and certainty with which the shoeand last unit may be positioned and removed.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a newand improved support for shoes and lasts during manufacture. It isanother object of the invention to provide a carrier for shoes and lastswhich supports the shoes out of contact with adjacent surfaces by whichthey could be soiled. It is a still further object vofrthe/i'nventionzto provi'dera shoetrackincwhiclr shoes and lasts. areremovabiy positioned-during: the interval. between stepsatiir thepro'oesszof sl'u'a'e" mamifacture' and whi'chis characterized by't'h'ease: and certainty with'twhi'chtheiiinitstareiposF tioned; and'removed;'-

These and .other moresv specific": obj cts' will: appear upon. readingthe: following: specification. and'claims and a upon considering in;vconnection therewith the: attached. drawings'sxto: which they relate.

Referring now to -thexdrawingsaiiiawhicli; a pref: ferred embodiment?ofa thezrinventione" isle: illus tra-tejdzg. a

Figure; 11- is :a-yiew' in perspective'offai-raclr: can:

structed accordance with'stli-e ;pres"ent jinven'- ti'o'n; 1

, Figure-.2 isi-a hviewn showing; the shoe-and last about to' bexseatedits individual carrier-ensues party-and v v i Figureasijshowsthe;shoei-and last supported "in? the: carrier. V 1 e In. the drawings the:reference 1. character-:". I'll indicatesagenerally a;portable-i-shcezxrack which isseenaton comprise-vertical-.uprights? l Iat-xitsiopp sitBiends: which; are carrie'dsby bases I 2; th'einrselvesiadapted to rest orlsli'de Hover aasu'ppdrting'; surface: Aiplllralit'ygof verticailyspaced shelves I3 extendbetweenthe-sendamembers "Ht r the embodiment illustrated it-hree shelveszare employed but it istobe' understood thatsthenums: berg",Of-She1VeS,. their length: andi their ivertical spacing..- isientirely a matter; of: 2 choice; Each shelf I 3 is tilted slightly sothataits upperisiirfa'ce' makesan' angle: of aboutrl5twiththeihoriz'ont'aln v asiis showni most clearlyxini Figure 3':

known, being a, substantial imitation o' t Along; the:upperrsurfactazofw shelf fl3 at regularly: spacedintervals:arebsupportszxor;earners-i 6; each; oi lwhi'ch" isindividually 'adaptedato receiVe ai'id support-1a: shoes-last 'I 1together with? a shoe I 8 by. 'which it is enclosed. 'andrw'hich'issiillust'rative of ma shoe ink mid -process .ofimanufacture: Jrhe'generalsshape oi' the'last'fliis standar'd'an wen The last is preferablymade of a solid, relatively light material such as wood, and is shapedalong its instep and heel to provide a pointed instep projection 2| anda flat upper heel area 22. Each carrier I6 is contoured and shaped toreceive and seat a last l1 and comprises a flat plate 23, shapedgenerally as the sole of a shoe forward of the heel, and secured to itsunderlying shelf by a pair of screws 21 extended through openings 28.Forwardly and rear wardly positioned pairs of fingers 24 and 26,respectively, extend upwardly from the opposite sides of plate 23 at itsfront and rear extremities. The front arms or fingers 24 are longer andextend further above the plate than do fingers 26, but in each case theupper extremities are gently curved outwardly. Forward fingers 2 beingparallel to the adjacent side of the plate 23, are "ang'ularly' 'rlated,their included angle openingrearwardly, while the rear fingersextendparallel. To receive the pointed projection 21 at the instep of theinverted last 11, plate 23 is formed with a V-shaped cut-out or opening29, 7 the rear edge or base of which lies along the edge of the shelfl3, as shown in Figure 3, so as not to be obstructed thereby.

The carriers I6 arranged along theshelves-J9 are identical and it willbe necessary only todetions are intended to the details of constructionor scribe the relationship of one carrier to the'shoe and the last unitpositioned thereon in order to make clear therelationship which existsin each case. Letit be assumed that the last is positioned within theshoe and that the worker has been performing an operation thereon-in thefabricating: of the shoe. The same-step is usually performedupon all ofthe shoes in a rack before a particular shoe in that rack is advanced tothe next fabricating step. Upon completing the particular opera-. tionupon the shoe in his charge, the worker takes it by the underside andslidesit and the enclosed last in an inverted condition into its emptycarrier. The rack is turned so that the heels of the shoes face theoperator and the movement of the shoe and last unit is forward anddownwarduntil.the. forward portion of the last instep seats between thefront fingers 24 while the fiat portion 22 of the heel rests between therear fingers 26. The instep of the last is somewhat accentuated so thatwith its forward portion extended between the fingers 24 the pointedportion 2| thereof ex-.

tends downwardly and rests against the base of the triangular cut-outopening 29 in the carrier plate 23.. The shoe for=itspart issupported'entirelyby' the last. The fingers 24 and 26 and the plate .:23entirely-support and position the shoe and last by engagement with thelatter only, while the. enclosing shoe, which does notextriddownwardly'upon the last instep sufficiently tocontact thefingers24, nor sufficiently downwardly upon the. heel of thelastto-contact the fingers 26, is. supported entirely free therefrom.The carrier I6 is tipped slightly downwardly at its'forward side, asshown in Figure 3, making for ease of po- Sitioningand removal, and, toan operator-famil iar with his work, the operation of replacing one shoeand last and withdrawing another -is sub-- stantially va singlecontinuous movement. He

shoves;the completed .unit into its waiting carrieriromatherear where itis retained by gravity and. the cooperation of the parts 'asdescribed.With his arm so advanced, he merely moves hishand laterally to grasp theadjacent shoe and last',and pullsit rearwardly displacing. it com-.nletelw Thetcarriers constructed in accordance with design herein shownother than as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

3 IQAshOean d last support adapted to seat a last .iermedzwitha'narrowed downwardly extending instep and a shoe positioned thereon,comprising a plate formed with a central aperture to receive and seatthe lower extremity of said instep with said last inverted, with spacedforward fingers constructed and arranged to receive and seat said instep1 forwardly of said lower extremity, and spaced rear fingers constructedand arranged to seat said -last rearWa-rdly of said instep.

2AA shoe and last'support adapted to seat a last formed with-a narroweddownwardly extending instep anda shoepositioned thereon, comprising-aplate forrnedwith a central-aperture to receive and seat the lowerextremity of said instep with said last inverted, with spaced angularlypositioned fingers flaring slightly outwardly at their upper 'ends toreceive and seat the instep forwardly of saidlo'wer extremity, andspaced fingers arranged rearwardly of said first-mentionedfingersfiaring slightly outwardly at their upper ends and-constructed andarranged to seat said last 'rearwardlyof said instep.

- .3." A ra'ck -for' shoesand lasts comprising a shelf, a support forinvertedshoes and last mounted on the; top; of said shelf and extendingforwardly thereon-maid support comprising. a rigid base formed=with a'central aperture forwardly of said shelf to receive and seat theextremity of the last instep, a pairof forward fingers to receive andseatthe forward. portion of said instep, and a pair of rear fingerslocated above said shelf to receive; and seatltheheel of said last.

.1 FRANK SBICCA.

file ofthis patentt 1 f 7 J nNI'rEp STATES-PATENTS Number Name, Date665,672. ,Downey Jan. 8, 1901 678,356 Carver July 16, 1901 825,332,Mack, July 10, 1906 1,554,990. Craine et al: .Sept. 29, 1925 1,703,190r G1i d n' Feb. 26, 1929 1,703,925 (;oombes Mar. 5, 1929 1,720,893qlidden July 16, 1929 1,900,118 Lang Mar. '7, 1933

